Wednesday - Florence

Today was a short day - we got up and rode the bus in to Florence. The ride was "scenic" and we got a bit tossed around on the way in - about a 75 minute ride - but no parking problems! We found our way from the bus station downtown and did a great tour of Palazza Davanzati (sp). This is a museum that is slowly being restored and only portions are open to the public. We were met there for a "restorer's tour" by one of the artists who has been restoring the frescoes in the building. It is one of the few museums that is a restored home - showing the rooms the way they may have been furnished and decorated in the 14-15th century. The frescoes were cool - one filled an entire room and told a famous story of a secret love affair - similar to romeo and juliet. The frescoes all were restored with water colors - a new law makes the artists use only techniques that are reversible. Unfortunately, this measn that the restored work is very fragile - it can be washed off with a wet washcloth! After the tour, we headed home by bus (after some more great gelato). We took the rest of the afternoon off - but posted some pictures that you saw earlier. We also went to a local restaurant called La Fattoria - great food, but we were the first people there (at 7:30pm).